Lady T-Birds bring Bulldogs to heel

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 4:31 PMFeb 6, 2013 at 4:35 PM

The Skyline girls basketball team turned a relatively safe halftime lead into a rout on the strength of a stellar defensive 3rd quarter Tuesday night at the Thunderdome, eventually doubling up the visiting Attica Bulldogs 54-27.

The Skyline girls basketball team turned a relatively safe halftime lead into a rout on the strength of a stellar defensive 3rd quarter Tuesday night at the Thunderdome, eventually doubling up the visiting Attica Bulldogs 54-27.The T-Birds established a 20-7 lead after 1 quarter, Kaitlyn Stark leading the way with three 3- point plays: an “and 1” and a pair from behind the arc. Q1 would prove to be Skyline’s biggest offensive period, but the T-Birds did continue to score steadily throughout the game against the Bulldogs. The second frame saw the teams basically trading buckets, the Atticas getting just a bit the better of it to pull within a dozen, 30-18, at intermission.In the second half, the Thunderbirds turned up the defensive pressure a notch and the Bulldogs had trouble getting the ball into the frontcourt. Janessa Davis, Brooke Fisher, Morgan Flowers, and Kaitlyn Stark were very active on the front end of Skyline’s press.The T-Birds converted some easy transition lay-ups and the Bulldogs misfired on the few good looks they got in Q3. As a result, the Skyliners posted 12 points in the stanza while holding Attica scoreless.Davis had 6 points—2 buckets and 2/2 FT—to pace the Lady Thunderbirds outburst in the 3rd quarter.That turned what had been a somewhat competitive game into a laugher for the Thunderbirds, carrying a 42-18 advantage into the final period. The only mystery at that point became whether the running clock would get tripped and put an early end to the proceedings. Skyline coach Chuck Young went deep into his bench in the 4th quarter, getting varsity minutes for all 14 girls who were suited up. (Rumors that even the towel manager got into the game proved to be erroneous.) The T-Birds reserves did themselves proud, carrying on where the starting rotation had left off. Even though the lead did reach 30 at one point, it was decided to let the game continue in normal fashion so as not to cut short the younger girls playing time. Hayley Mendoza made 3 FT and Betsy Giles chalked one up as well down the stretch as the JV Thunderbirds more than held their own against the Atticas. With the win, Skyline’s girls moved to 8-6 on the season. The next game on the menu is a homecoming tilt on Friday against the visiting Cunningham Wildcats, a team the T-Birds drilled earlier this season in the 54 Classic.